Backsliding 102: Prevention

Since I wrote the post Backsliding 101, I've been thinking about how to follow it up with some real-world advice (and reminders to myself) of what works to prevent backsliding and how to recover from it.

Here's what I've got.

About Diet
1. Learn the calorie counts of all of your favorite fast-food (and restaurant) meals. Along with that, figure out what you can order at every single restaurant that you might be tempted to go to. I challenge you to find a fast-food or other restaurant that doesn't have at least one reasonable choice. Don't kid yourself - there's always a good pick. You may not want to eat that item, but knowing that you can - and should - will help you make the right decision most of the time.

2. Along the same lines, figure out how many calories are in your favorite things to cook - especially bake! My favorite cookies are - seriously! - 170 calories EACH. Imagine if I bake them, eat some dough, taste a couple of cookies, then bring them to work to share and have another. It would be way too easy to add a full 1000 calories to my diet that day - and am I really going to work out an extra two hours to pay for that?

3. Cultivate the ability to make special requests when it comes to food. This applies at restaurants and at your friends' or family's houses. You've got to be able to ask for what you need (things like, can that dish be made without butter, or, can we have chicken breast instead of steak at dinner Friday night?).

4. Learn how to say no. No, you don't need a drink. No, you're not hungry right now. I'm sure your mashed potatoes are the best in the world, Grandma, but I wouldn't like some right now.

5. Learn how to moderate. Yes, Grandma - I'll have a little taste. Let me get it myself, I don't want to be a bother! (Then take only a mouthful!)

6. My friend Sarah gave me this piece of advice: The first bite tastes the best. Subsequent bites just aren't as good. So don't eat them. Don't clean your plate just because you can.

7. Eat slowly. Be the last one to finish eating, and leave food on your plate.

8. Remember that saying "no" right now doesn't mean saying "no" forever. You don't have to eat every brownie or bowl of ice cream that becomes available to you; you can say no and still have that treat later on, when it's appropriate. When I was on the 20/20 program, I said no to a ton of yummy treats - and two and a half years later, I don't regret not having that slice of cake at my kids' first and fourth birthday parties. I'm still here, and doing just fine, thanks.

About Exercise
1. Don't do any form of exercise you don't enjoy. Experiment until you find something enjoyable, or some way to enjoy something not enjoyable (like, audio books or reading or watching TV or DVDs).

2. Have an adequate supply of workout clothes so you never have the excuse, "But my shorts are in the washer!"

3. Find friends who will do your exercising with you. And do not trade your exercise play dates for going out and drinking play dates! Where will you find these friends? Meet them at the gym (Nancy just started talking to me in the locker room one day, and Aleks got the courage to approach her in a class they both took to ask if she could come along on our runs. Be bold!).

4. Block your exercise time out on your calendar, and do not be flexible with it. One thing stuck in my head more than anything else from the 20/20 Lifestyles weight-loss program, and it's this: If I don't exercise or cut my exercise time short, I only cheat myself. My husband criticizes my lack of flexibility here, and probably because I'm so exercise-obsessed, I could afford more flexibility. But until it becomes habit, keep that time sacred, do your full workouts every time, and don't cheat yourself.

5. Build variety into your workouts. Yeah, you've got to like everything you do, but you don't have to like it all equally. You can love running and like cycling and do both - cross-training is important for your body. Likewise, lift weights. It will help you with everything else, and make your arms and legs look really hot. :-)

About General Lifestyle
1. Toss all of your fat clothes - and I mean ALL of them! And do not, under any circumstances, buy clothing that is either too big for you (because those jeans are so cute, and the store only has a size 8, and it's close enough, right?) or shop when you're feeling fat. If you gain too much weight, you need to go naked until you lose it again. (Okay, kidding here - but don't keep fat clothes around, because you will use them!)

2. Meal track forever. Whether you write it all down or keep a running tally in your head (and I recommend writing it down), don't ever stop consciously thinking about what you eat. After all, your body doesn't stop responding to calories in, calories out!

3. I know this one is in all the silly magazine articles, but it's true. Do what you can to be a tiny bit more active. Every time I go to the grocery store or the mall, I park far away. My six-year-old son used to complain, but now he's gotten so used to it that when my three-year-old daughter was whining about having to walk, my son actually said, "You should feel lucky that you have those strong legs to walk on! Some people don't!" Yeah, that's pretty much an exact quote of what I said to brainwash him. So we walk a few extra steps, I rarely use a stroller for the three-year-old (carrying her around a mall is great exercise!) and we generally try to get some physical activity every day.

4. Prove to everyone you're tough. This is especially cool if you're a woman. Yesterday I helped carry a six-foot-long, probably 100 pounds box with my son's Christmas present -an air hockey table - from the car to the room where we're trying to hide it. I'm not letting a man - my husband - tell me I can't do it because "I'm a girl." I'm so strong that I don't need to run for help when it comes to lifting or carrying or whatever things people think only burly men can do.

5. Oh yeah, and about that air hockey table? It cost about the same thing as a Nintendo Wii system, another thing the kid asked for. Air hockey may not be the most physical game around, but hey - it's better than video games and DVDs. Those things have their place, too, but if I can give my kids toys that involve physical activity - like a snowboard (what we got the boy for his fifth birthday) or a bicycle (the girl's third Christmas), I sneak exercise into both their and my life and we're all better off.

This is a pretty good list. There's one more part to the Backsliding series - and it's about recovery. That's for next time. :-)